(ANSA) - ROME, NOVEMBER 29 - It holds the trust of independent bookstores in 2022 and is destined to improve in view of the Christmas holidays.
Revenues and the employment situation were stable with the indicator equal to 50 at the end of 2022. The indicator relating to liquidity was down, settling at 38 points against 43 in December 2021.
But bookstores are also feeling the impact of rising costs and the uncertain economic backdrop.
This according to data from the Observatory on bookshops in Italy 2022, created by Ali, the Italian Booksellers Association adhering to Confcommercio, in collaboration with Format Research.
One out of four independent bookstores has requested a credit line or loan over the last few months, mainly motivated by liquidity and cash requirements (77%).
Almost eight out of ten bookstores complain of an abnormal increase in the prices charged by their suppliers.
48% recorded a price increase of more than 20%.
54% of bookstores report an increase in customers entering the bookstore and 55% an increase in books purchased by customers, also in value, compared to 2021.
Out of the total number of customers who bought at least one item in the bookstore, 70% belong to the shop's historical clientele.
Just under half of the independent bookstores (47.9%) distribute textbooks and, of these, nine out of ten have had difficulty sourcing the texts.
Most of the bookshops that carry out school distribution are dissatisfied with the service offered to them by the publishing houses (81.6%) and the vast majority do not consider the margin recognized by the publishers to be adequate both for school books on new editions (95%) and on catalog titles (92.6%). 3%).
For one bookstore out of two (49.2%) scholastic accounts account for up to 20% of total revenues.
17% of independent bookstores also specialize in the sale of university books.
62% of bookstores have lost between 20% and 50% of turnover in the last two years due to competition from online megastores.
10% have lost more than 50% of their turnover.
(HANDLE).